The present invention pertains generally to helmets, and more specifically to swimmer protective headgear. Normally, the most physically hazardous helicopter missions are those involving combat search and rescue wherein maximum speed of operation and mobility of the aircrew are required. Various hazards are present in over water operations when a helicopter cannot descend to the surface of the water to affect pickup of the survivor. In the case where a survivor is wounded, in shock, or otherwise disabled and cannot help himself, an air crewman must descend from the helicopter to the water to aid in his recovery. Prior to exiting the helicopter, the recovery air crewman must discard his protective flight helmet since its construction poses a liability to his visability, mobility and successful rescue. Consequently, he must enter the water bareheaded, wearing a scuba wetsuit or an inflatable anti-exposure suit. The air crewman is required to either free jump from a hover altitude of as much as 40 feet or, if the conditions permit, ride the rescue hoist down to the water surface. In addition, a substantial amount of equipment, such as a rescue sling, net or hoist, flotation device or flotation litter must also be transferred to the water surface.
Chances of head injury are therefore substantial in all phases of the rescue operation since the rescue air crewman is not provided with a suitably protective helmet. Conventional headgear has been found to be unsuitably heavy, causing injury during free jump and has also been found to retain water, thereby decreasing the swimmer's mobility. Additionally, conventional headgear has either not provided impact protection or, if so, has been designed to be so bulky as to obscure vision without sufficient thermal protection to a swimmer descending in cold waters. Moreover, immersion in water of conventional flight helmets would cause extensive damage to electronic components mounted therein, thereby ruling out their use as protective helmets.